The Home Office has backed down on its demand that a 90-year-old man with serious physical and mental health issues return to the US to apply for a visa to live with his British wife in the UK.
Albert Dolbec, a US citizen, has been married to his wife Dawn, 84, for 25 years. For the past two and a half years the Home Office had refused to issue him a spousal visa because it said he had entered the UK on a visitor’s visa and could not convert it while he was still inside the country. Instead, Dolbec was told he would have to return to the US, where he has no home and nowhere to live, and reapply from there. His wife is too frail to travel with him and his family were convinced he would not survive the experience.
Following a review of its decision, the Home Office has now apologised to Dolbec and determined that his indefinite leave to remain in the UK should not have been revoked as when he entered the UK in 1997, the indefinite leave to remain stamp in his passport was overlooked and Dolbec was erroneously admitted to the UK as a visitor at that time.
The Home Office has apologised for any difficulty, stress or inconvenience their error may have caused Dolbec and his family. Further, the department has agreed to refund the family the £1,804 they have spent in visa application fees.
Dolbec’s family is of the opinion that they only received a favourable outcome in their matter because they were informed, persistent and financially able to continue to fight the matter. They note that it was only when public attention of their plight was raised by Oliver Dowden their member of parliament and the media, that the Home Office gave their case serious consideration.
